The beginning of the week saw Hard Rock International reveal a decision to spend more than $100 million to give significant pay raises to about 10,000 salaried staff members, most of whom are employed in the company’s US operations.
The company also announced that an immediate increase to a minimum starting salary of between $18 and $21 an hour was included in the planned pay raise. They are aimed at helping the employees of the global gambling, hospitality and entertainment operator cope with increasing inflation rates and at the same time attract and retain new employees. Some of Hard Rock International’s staff members will receive increased merit raises, too.
The gambling giant issued a statement, saying that some of its workers are set to get an immediate pay raise of 60%. As revealed by the company, the raises apply to a total of 95 job classifications, including cage cashiers, front desk clerks, security workers, housekeepers, and cooks.
Jim Allen, CEO and chair of the company, revealed that the operator has taken into account the current economic conditions when taking into consideration the raises in the starting salaries of its front-line workers.
Hard Rock confirmed that the pay raises will affect half of its workforce in the US.
Main Casino Worker Union Agrees on Historic Contract for the Largest Salary Increases Ever in New Jersey
The announcement of the gambling giant’s decision comes at a time when the wages not only in the local casino industry but in other economic sectors, as well, are being boosted as a result of various factors, including a shortage of employees, and rising salaries in other fields.
A couple of months ago, the main worker union that represented casino employees in Atlantic City managed to shake hands with the city’s nine casinos on what was described as a “historic” agreement that sat the biggest salary increases ever granted in a casino contract in the state of New Jersey. Under the terms of the agreement, the salaries’ starting rate was set at $18 an hour, and some job classifications would earn $22 an hour in the fourth year of the deal.
The president of Local 54 of the Unite Here union, which held the negotiations regarding the Atlantic City casino workers’ contract, Bob McDevitt, shared that Hard Rock’s announcement about the company setting a national salary scale was “a great move”. According to him, the decision is going to have a significant effect everywhere the gambling, entertainment and hospitality giant operates.
The starting salary of $18 an hour that Hard Rock announced at the beginning of the week is 2 and a half times the federal minimum hourly wage which is worth $7.25. The newly-unveiled pay rate of the gambling giant also exceeds the local minimum wage in every US state where Hard Rock International currently operates. The announced payment increases will vary in the different US states.
For the time being, none of the other national casino companies that were addressed by representatives of the media has responded to inquiries regarding their pay rates.
